Adventures in genealogy

Welcome

Hello, my name is Donna Pointkouski and welcome to my new genealogy blog, “What’s Past is Prologue”.I have been involved in researching my family’s history since 1989.When I started, I knew nothing at all about my eight immigrant great-grandparents except their names and a rather vague idea of what countries they came from.

It’s been a good journey!I’ve learned a lot about some of my great-grandparents and have traced their ancestry back centuries. Some of the others are still almost as much a mystery as when I started my research. But that’s the beauty of genealogy…once you start, it’s always with you. There is always some mystery to solve, some person to find, some route to pursue. And, if you’ve traced back every single line of your own roots, there are similar questions about your friends’ families!

Since learning how to research I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in some different aspects of genealogy, including being a province host for two provinces on Poland Gen Web and teaching non-credit genealogy classes at a Philadelphia university. Both of these projects involve my friend Marie, and the two of us began our respective research together after years of wondering exactly how to do it. My latest genealogical “expansion” is writing articles for genealogy magazines such as Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy (and a soon-to-be-announced new genealogy magazine for beginners!).

My intent of this blog is to share my family research as well as stories, techniques, and tips.I hope to accomplish quite a few things with this blog, including:

-find more cousins, including some that might have an interest in genealogy, and share our family information

-find others researching the towns or areas where my ancestors lived

-share (hopefully) useful information regarding how to research

-join the great community of genea-bloggers for fellowship, to learn from them, and to share our passion for genealogy in cyberspace

-develop my writing so that I can continue writing magazine articles on genealogy as well as other topics

-organize my research, which will become a necessity if I hope to blog about it on a regular basis!

Thanks for stopping by!Do drop in from time to time if you have an interest in genealogy.If you like something you see here, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email!

It’s always exciting when someone new moves into the neighborhood. We don’t have a homeowners association here, but we do have an attentive neighborhood watch. I look forward to keeping an eye on your blog.